Cold
by Cat in the Window
Summary: "Maybe mixing PTSD with magic isn't such a good thing. But it's too late to fix it now, and he wouldn't even if he could." All six Avengers as students in Hogwarts. Tony returns after a summer in captivity. R&R please.
1. Chapter 1

So, this has been done before, but I'd like to try it myself anyway. Basically, the Avengers in Hogwarts and there's no Voldemort or anything, just dealing with their own problems together. Tony's the main character and there may or may not be other point of views thrown in there.

And they're all in the same year (not everyone in the movie, just the six of them for easiness' sake). But different houses, obviously. I've incorporated their back stories to fit with the new setting. I hope I got it right. Also, I couldn't for the life of me figure out where to put Clint.

Oh...and no Arc Reactor. I, uh, can't really see that logically working. And this takes place sixth year.

Note: No Pepper x Tony. Ever.

Also, Tony's parents are still alive. His happens a little out of order. Thor and Loki are still brotherly. I just turned it into house rivalry. Bruce's personality flip isn't so...there as it is in the movie/comics and caused by a magical mishap rather than gamma radiation. Steve and Tony are American but everyone else is from Britain. I gave it reason why two Americans go to Hogwarts too, so it isn't so entirely nonsensical. I think.

Disclaimer: Own neither.

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Standing with his parents outside Platform Nine and Three Quarters is surreal enough. Having his dad make an active attempt to remove the cell phone _he _recently designed from him is even weirder.

He hadn't known his dad read his textbooks.

As his dad makes the final ditch effort of trying to literally take his cell phone (he is ignoring them after all and for the first time he wonders how utterly annoying it is for them), he says, "I've got fifteen minutes. Just let me finish designing this," and turns around so he's facing away from his parents, and it's much harder to reach him.

"You have paper at school," his mom says as there's hint of rising worry in her voice that he's pretending not to notice. Considering that they didn't want him to go to Hogwarts this year, he doesn't particularly want to deal with either of them at the moment. "Please, Tony, we need to talk to you."

Before he can do anything about it, his dad slides an arm around his shoulders, causing him to jump in surprise, and allows his mom an opening to take his phone away. He scowls and makes a halfhearted move to get it back, but it's trying too hard because he knows he won't get it. Now it's in his mom's bag, out of reach. "Five more minutes," he says, calculations still going in his head and no resources to get it out. "C'mon, Mom, I can't bring it in there without the memory getting wiped."

His parents exchange glances, and his mom sighs. "I'll wait here for you," she says and Tony doesn't bother dodging the hand that moves his hair from his forehead, confused bit not confused at the same time. "Have fun at school," she adds and looks about one step away from hugging him. In private, it's embarrassing enough, but in public is a little too much. Crying seem like an option again, but she's done that enough over the past few days. Though she tries hard to hide it, he knows. "And remember, we're just an owl away whenever you need us."

"I know," he says and feels uncomfortable with all the parental attention. He and his parents never worked on the whole "bonding" thing - he was always at school or his parents at some meeting or his dad working away and before a week ago, he can't really remember the last time he saw both of them together. They're together all the time, but he normally isn't part of the equation. "I'm going to go now. By, Mo -"

Unfortunately he doesn't get to finish because he gets the maternal hug of death anyway and thank god no other Hogwarts students seem to be out here. He lets her have a moment before untangling himself from her arms. "Bye, Mom," he repeats.

"Right." She fixes her hair. "Bye, sweetie. I love you. Howard, I'll wait out here."

Tony mumbles back an, "I love you too," because it seems like the right thing to do.

"I'll be back soon," his dad tells her and, for the first time since he was eleven, follows him inside Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Tony wants to run off to the train and meet up with his friends, but he's already being steered towards a relatively obscure location to talk privately. He fidgets but stops from bolting because how jumpy he's been over the past few days was a big part of his parents wanting him to take at least until winter break off.

When they're off to the side, his dad says, "Listen, Tony, if you panic -"

"I -"

Tony falls silent when he sees the look on his dad's face. He continues, "If you panic, your mom and I are always here. Send us an owl or if you want something faster, I'm sure you can coordinate with McGonagall to get down to a Muggle town and use a phone. I'll drop whatever I'm doing and come and get you." Despite the logic that follows the situation, the statement catches Tony off guard. "And you can stay home however long you need. If you stay, _please _write to your mom and I regularly. Keep yourself safe and tell someone if something goes wrong if you feel like you can't tell us."

A hush falls for a moment. "Who knows?" he asks eventually. "How widely publicized was it?"

"Not as much as you'd think," his dad answers. "You're a minor, so it was a little easier. Steve knows, of course. And it never never really hit the news so no Muggle-borns should know. The staff does, too."

So the inevitable people then. "Okay," he says. "Okay. Well, I'm going to go meet up with Steve and the others. Bye, Dad."

There's an awkward moment where neither moves and suddenly Tony's getting the second parental hug of the day. Instinctively, he tries to get away, embarrassed, but the attempt doesn't have much backing it up. "Jesus, Tony," his dad says, "You're leaving after a week and half. Just let me have a moment."

Tentatively, he hugs back, glad that they're hidden from view. He knows he should struggle or complain or make some sort of witty comment - anything to feel like himself. But, truthfully, he's more terrified than he lets on or wants to admit and maybe this isn't such a bad thing. His shoulders shake, and he isn't sure if it's from his dad, himself, or both.

Finally, they let go and it isn't as uncomfortable as it could be. "Right," his dad says after a moment. "Come back for winter vacation. Bring your friends if you want but come home. I'll take time off." There's a pause. "You should probably go."

"Yeah," he answers because he finds himself at a loss of words. Again. "I'll write tomorrow or something. Bye."

His dad seems on the verge of adding something, but doesn't. Instead he just says, "Have fun. I love you, you know that, right?"

Even after a week and half of hearing this from both his parents, he isn't ready to hear it again. "Yeah," he repeats, unsuccessfully trying to keep his voice from cracking. "Love you too." They're saved from another goodbye by the whistle blowing. Tony mumbles something and turns around, hurrying to the train before it leaves.

He makes it on with a minute to go, and it takes him another three to find his friends. They're in the back and as he reaches outside, he hears Natasha say, "Seriously, where is he?" and in shock he realizes that he'd forgotten what their voices sound like.

He pushes open the door, trying to ignore how unsettling that is, and draws the attention of everyone in the compartment. "Hey," he says, sliding the door shut behind him. "Um, my parents dropped me off and Dad stole my phone."

"Your _parents_?" Clint says as Tony takes a seat next to him by the window, and maybe he shouldn't have said that because he wants to seem normal. Fine. And he totally is fine. Absolutely.

He shrugs. "They were around," he answers. "Anyway, anything interesting happen over the summer?"

Steve sends him a worried look and he wonders how long it will take the others to figure out that something is a little off. Because of the distance between England and New York City, he doesn't really get the opportunity to keep in contact with them unless it's for plans, so him randomly dropping off the map for a summer didn't draw too much attention. But Natasha already look suspicious.

Thor says, "My brother is the new Slytherin prefect."

"And speaking of prefects, I have to go," Steve says, standing up. He sends another worried glance and if that keeps up then Tony'll have to tell the others sooner than later and he doesn't think that'll be as easy as it sounds. "I'll be back in a few hours."

He leaves and in the gap of a second that the compartment door is open, he catches the sound of a laughter. The distance makes it sound muffled and he feels his hand twitch.

"So what did you do this summer?" Bruce asks and he wishes Steve was here because Steve knows and would probably figure out a way to steer off the conversation, which is something Tony never thought he'd think. Being the center of attention is _his _thing, but maybe this freaking out is because he really doesn't want to lie - he's lied so much already and this has never bothered him before and fuck, he likes himself. He likes himself a lot. Even if he does hate himself too. Maybe. So why the hell isn't anything coming out?

And all four are staring.

After a moment, he answers, "Vacation with parents. Long story, kind of horrible. What about you guys?"

Every single one of them has the we'll-talk-later look that he's come to recognize. Though, admittedly, it looks weird on Thor.

"I went with my mom to Brazil," Bruce says. "There's this new strain of influenza that's only affecting wizards that hit down there. The town we went to looked a bit like someone stacked building blocks on top of each other and added clotheslines. I have pictures if you want to see."

"Uh, sure," he answers.

As Bruce riffles through his stuff, Clint says, "The rest of us just went to Clare."

"We invited you," Natasha adds, "but you never answered."

His mouth feels dry. "Sorry about that," he says. "Never got your owl."

"Considering that the owl came back with the letter untouched a week later, we assumed as much," Thor says and Bruce succeeds in finding the pictures.

Before he can say anything, Tony spots a picture thicker than the rest and reaches out, grabbing it from the pile. "Why do you have a Polaroid?" he asks, staring down at the picture. Clint leans over to look at it too. "And who _is _this?"

"I -"

Then the picture's out of Tony's hand, grabbed instead by Natasha. "She's cute," she says. "Why's it a still? Where'd you meet her?"

Bruce fidgets, face bright red. "Er," he says. "I was buying a Muggle soda. She works in a soda factory. It's nothing."

"A soda factory?" Thor repeats, looking at the picture from over Natasha's shoulder. "This is not nothing, Bruce! Do you mean to keep in contact with this Muggle girl?"

Again, he fidgets. Tony's just glad the attention is away from him now. "Maybe," Bruce answers. "I told her I was in boarding school and I could only write through letters, so I'm sending them to my mom who said she'd post them the Muggle way."

As Natasha hands the picture back, she asks, "Are you going down again winter break?"

Bruce shrugs. "My mom's still down there," he answers, "So maybe. Do you think it's a good idea?

"Go for it," she says. "What's her name?"

"Amelia."

The conversation changes to the trip down at Clare and after half an hour of trying to be normal, he gives up, looking out the window instead, watching the landscapes go by. He hasn't paid attention to them since his first year - if that - and he appreciates the greenness and the mist. By this point, anything to separate him from the desert is good.

The distance is nice too.

Around three the food trolley comes around and Steve's still gone. They buy extra for him and after a few bites, Tony feels sick. This has been happening a lot since he got back. The doctor said it was because of the antibiotics, which he's now off of on the grounds that magic (for the most part) is better at quick fixes in the medical department.

Steve comes back at four-thirty, seeming in a relatively good mood, and goes straight for the food. "Your brother told Hammer to stop being so pretentious," he tells Thor, who immediately beams with pride. Hammer is the Slytherin prefect in their year and, except for Natasha who gets elevated status for being a Slytherin too, they'd all been victim to his pointless removal of points. Half the time the six of them deserve it, but they were rarely ever caught doing anything. Not that any of them particularly care - it's just annoying. "I think that might've been the highlight of my year and it hasn't even started yet."

"Why'd he do it?" Clint asks and since Tony's the reason that Hammer hates all of them for a ridiculous misunderstanding (it's not Tony's fault that he's smarter than everyone and Muggle-born, it just sort of happens that way), he's actually listening now.

"He tried to tell Jane off for being late. Then Loki pointed out that he was late too, and it just spiraled down there too."

"How very Gryffindor," Thor says, a little confused as Tony asks, "So, did Hammer keep it to Jane, or find a way to insult all Ravenclaws at once? Or does he still not know that my entire house hates him?"

"Kept it Jane," Steve says. "But I'm pretty sure he's still clueless."

Natasha crosses her arms. "He gives Slytherins a bad name. If Daddy Dearest hadn't discovered the lost text of Merlin, he wouldn't even be a prefect."

"Still bitter about McCray beating you out?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Out of all of them, she's the odd one out, though Bruce comes at a close second. She's a Slytherin, he's a Hufflepuff, while he and Clint are Ravenclaws and Thor and Steve are Gryffindors. She probably could've been prefect, too, but Slughorn for some reason likes her so little that he forgets her name, though he's pretty sure that's on purpose. Or just senility.

Slowly, afternoon turns to evening and evening into night and they change, keeping the banging into each other to a minimal this year. Not long after, the train slows, and they shuffle off. Then they're at the station, looking for a carriage and -

"Oh," he says as he finds himself face to face to with a thestral. Natasha has always been able to see them, and he's read nearly every book in the library, so he knows they exist and what they looked like but looking at pictures and looking at an actual one are drastically different.

He struggles hard against what his dad called "a flashback" as he backs up, and almost screams when a hand touches his arm, but it's just Steve pulling him in the direction of the carriage door with that It'll-be-okay smile that Tony hates. He steps on, taking a seat next to Thor, and Steve follows.

After a moment, the carriage moves.

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I hope this didn't suck. Heh. I know the beginning is out of character, but it fit the situation.

The girl comes from the beginning of the first Hulk movie. I watched the movie in German (long story) so all the scenes with Betty just sounded weird.

Review please! I like those. :3


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks you for all the alerts/favorites! Though, I admittedly don't understand how I have over a hundred alerts and five reviews. Is this normal? o.O

Also, I may or may not be concussed while I writing this. I'd wait, but this is keeping me up.

Note: If you want a pairing, vote on it. I don't know how to set up a poll though, so just tell me.

Disclaimer: Own neither.

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"Mr. Stark!"

Tony looks to the side, in the direction of the voice, to see Professor Flitwick hurrying towards him, cutting him off before he can reach the Great Hall. And though he should mind he can't because the second he entered the Hogwarts property, his chest started hurting and at the moment, the pain's blocking out all capability to be embarrassed. His Head of House stops in front of him, evidently out of breath and before he can muster up the coherency to ask who wants him, Flitwick continues, "Madam Pomfrey wishes to see you."

"Okay," he answers, managing to hold back a stutter because _why the hell does it hurt this much. _"I'll get to that, then."

"Tony, what's going on?" Bruce asks as Flitwick tells him that he needs to get to the staff table, would it be all right if one of your friends escorted you, and Tony absentmindedly nods, trying to breathe and remembering that the doctors hadn't been able to remove all of the shrapnel from his body. "Tony?"

Gathering his senses enough to ignore the metal digging into his internal organs, he says, "I don't know. Guess I better go though."

"I'll bring you," Steve says quickly before he can protest that no, he can find his way through a school he's gone to for five years on his own, but considering that the other four look about ready to volunteer to, he can't find it in him to complain. "We'll meet up tomorrow around eight before we go for breakfast. See'ya."

"Wait -" Natasha starts, but Steve's hand his already on his shoulder the way his dad's was earlier, pushing him in the direction of the hospital wing.

Half when there, when Tony's trying his absolute hardest not to shake to the point of vibrating out of having the sheer agony of little pieces of shrapnel causing massive internal bleeding (which means his parents were rightfully pissed off that the professional surgeons weren't able to remove everything), Steve tells him, "Sorry for not, you know, visiting you in the hospital, but none of us were of age to make a port -"

"Steve," he says and the shaking is starting against his will as they get nearer and nearer, "save it until after Pomfrey declares me fit to be normal, all right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Save. Just save it."

Thankfully, Steve doesn't answer, which is good because his body's already betraying his horrifically failed this-is-me-being-myself front and he doesn't need anything else to contribute. It doesn't take long for them to reach the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey is waiting at the door, goblet in had. "Drink," she says, holding it out to him without so much as a _hello, how are you?_ "Don't ask me what it does, I'll explain inside."

But he can tell what it is already so this doesn't matter much and he drinks it without complaint, trying and failing to ignore the disgusting taste. It still hurts though like nothing happened as he and Steve follow Madam Pomfrey through the door before the delayed reaction kicks in and pain burns white-hot throughout his body and he can't fucking

(breathe because he's holding his breath out of habit trying to ignore the yelling he doesn't hear, he can't understand a word that they're saying and every time is gets harder and harder for his lungs to hold air in, they pull him up for a moment and push him back down and holy shit there's water filling his)

Suddenly fingers snap in his face and he's back to the present, here in his school hospital wing, eyes focused on his friend's shirt. He blinks and looks up. "Sorry," he says. "I just - I don't know, blacked out there for a moment or something, I guess."

Steve doesn't look convinced, but Madam Pomfrey says, "That's the average side effect of the Purification Potion," and saves him from the awkward questioning where he'd be repeating the same thing over and over. Like normal, he thinks. "You should feel better in an hour or so. "

"Does that mean we can go back now?" Steve asks, and Tony doesn't miss the edge of hopefulness in his voice, making him feel uncharacteristically guilty.

"You can if you'd like," she answers, "but he has to stay here. Professor McGonagall wants to speak with him when the feast is over and I'm not letting him out of my sight until then. The boy needs rest. I'm surprised he hasn't dropped dead from exhaustion yet."

"Drop dead? What do you mean?"

"How do you think the boy's survived this long?" Pomfrey says. "He's been using involuntary wandless magic for the past ten weeks to keep that Muggle poison from gravitating to his heart. Entering Hogwarts' security barrier broke it."

_He. Him. The boy._ "I'm right here," he says, irritated. "You really don't have to refer to me in the third person."

Though Madam Pomfrey simply glares, that's enough of an answer without saying anything, and leaves to her office.

Steve says to him, "I think I'll just stay here. I don't want to get in late and have everyone stare at me."

He was supposed to meet up with Peggy, Tony realizes and feels bad. But he shouldn't. They'll inevitably see each other every day anyway, so what's one day missed? Why is his subconscious suddenly hating on logic? Maybe it's because the potion left a horrible aftertaste and it still feels like his whole body is on fire. Madam Pomfrey returns with a platter of sandwiches.

"Eat," she says. "I'll be back in a bit. And Stark, do _not _do anything to aggravate yourself."

Typical. Just because he left the hospital wing early after a Quidditch injury one time and re-broke his arm three hours later via a seventh year running directly into him doesn't mean he completely irresponsible. "I -"

"I'll take care of him," Steve interrupts, and Madam Pomfrey seems satisfied with that. There are very few instances where Golden Boy Steve Rogers can promise something and the staff won't immediately trust his word. "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"I'm holding you to that, Rogers."

"We'll be all right, Ma'am."

After the woman disappears back into her office, Tony says, "You're way too polite to be a normal sixteen-year-old. And if you tell me to lie down I'll probably kill you. In advance."

"I know." He pauses before adding, "Why didn't you wait to come back?"

Tony shrugs. "I thought - I don't know. Coming in late or missing a year draws a lot of attention. Didn't feel like dealing with it. And I'm fine anyway."

With a frown, Steve answers, "You don't need to lie to _me_, Tony. We've known each other since we were five."

"You lied to me about being a wizard until I was eleven."

"Completely different situation, so don't even bother," he says. "Besides, you'd probably have ended up in the Muggle-born specific school up in Nova Scotia if it weren't for me anyway."

"That's because your parents pulled that alumni card." Time seems to be passing slowly. He takes a sandwich and after a summer of either not eating at all or living off of hospital food, it takes amazing. "I should've agreed to go to Clint's when he invited me. Why'd I turn that down again?"

Steve give him another worried look and Tony should really keep his mouth shut. Even dropping a hint that there are random things that his memory's fuzzy on isn't a good idea. "You said you had an idea," his friend answers. "Something about figuring out a clean power source for Muggles since they shouldn't have to reply on electricity all the time."

Oh, yeah. That. "The ARC reactor," he says. "I was designing it when Dad stole my phone. Got the idea from _Lumos _spell."

"Right." Steve takes a seat on the cot across from him. "So, did you know about the involuntary wandless magic?"

He nods. "I figured as much. In the beginning I just concentrated really hard and then, I don't know, it became reflex I guess. How was Clare?"

Skepticism is written all over his face, but his friend seems to get the point and follows up on the subject change. They talked for roughly and hour and half about nothing and Tony can steadily feel himself getting more and more tired. Side effect of the potion, he thinks, or because this is the longest he's been awake since he found himself lying down on a hospital bed. But he has to wait for the headmistress and doesn't want to fall asleep here anyway so he participates in the conversation more and more until he's talking so much that he feels almost normal.

Eventually, Madam Pomfrey comes to collect the plate of sandwiches, in seemingly bad mood, and Professor McGonagall comes in, lips pressed thin like she's about to tell him off for arguing the finer arts of potion making with Slughorn again. "Mr. Rogers," she says, not looking at him. "You may leave, thank you."

"Goodnight, Professor," he says, standing. "I'll see you tomorrow, Tony."

"Night, Steve," he answers as his friend leaves before looking up at the headmistress, not sure what to say. He realizes they've never talked without some sort of trouble or house points being involved, which ups the awkward levels even further.

She clears her throat, and after making a comment about not causing him stress, Pomfrey leaves again. After a moment, McGonagall says, "I'm not sure if you were told, but I was the one who informed your parents of your location."

"No, my mom told me when I woke up," he says. "Thank you, Professor."

"Well," she answers, "I want you to know that the Minister of Magic and I discovered the country rather quickly as you are only sixteen, but the diplomatic relation the Wizarding governments are as bad as the Muggle ones at the moment and we received no cooperation. Eventually we found you without their help and were able to inform your parents. To put it simply, this is an apology for not helping you earlier."

"It's - What?"

He's confused but he shouldn't be because he's used to hearing about diplomatic relations and how screwed up they can become but he's so tired that he can't think straight. As someone who is traditionally an insomniac, having roughly ten days of this is unfamiliar and unwelcome. It doesn't help that every day has been drug-induced, something he was hoping to avoid in Hogwarts, but here three hours and he's already had to take something. Hopefully his last something, too.

McGonagall holds a slip of parchment out of him. "Your timetable," she says as he accepts it. "You should rest, Stark. Would you like to stay here or go up to your common room?"

"Common room," he says without hesitation because a school hospital bed is still a hospital bed and he'll be happy if he can spend the rest of his life never being near one again. "Does this mean I can leave now?"

"Yes," McGonagall answers as he stands up, stepping aside so he can pass with a quick goodnight.

The hallway is blessedly empty.

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Clint's half asleep in an armchair when he enters and sits up straight the moment Tony enters, eyes momentarily out of focus, firelight throwing part of his body into darkness. The overall lighting of the room is dim, but the carpet beneath his feet and the outline of the chairs and the distinct lack of light bulbs makes it bearable.

"What happened?" Clint asks, rubbing his eye with one hand like a kid. "You got us all really worried."

"It was nothing."

"That's a lie and you know it."

Inwardly, Tony berates himself for not keeping everything hidden better but a small part of him knows he did the best he could. And even smaller part of him knows that it'll be maximum of a week before he has to tell them for one reason or another. Said reason probably being Steve. Sometimes it sucks having a guy like that as a friend. Eventually, he says, "Look, Clint, I'm exhausted and we've got classes tomorrow. Can I just sleep a few hours first?"

Standing, his friend answers, "At least tell me what Pomfrey gave you."

"Purification Potion," he says. "Sleep now?"

He sighs. "Fine. But you're telling me tomorrow."

"Right," he says, following Clint to the dormitory and already trying to figure out a way out of it. "G'night, Clint."

"Goodnight, Tony."

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Cutting off Steve alone as he comes down from the Gryffindor tower with Thor and Peggy is even more difficult than dodging a curious Clint, especially since he has no idea of the exact location of any common room other than own. Somehow he manages, though it takes two secret passageways and the eventually yanking on the back of his robes to get Steve separated from his two housemates. Surprise flits across the other boy's face but it's only for a moment and Tony's sudden feeling of desperation has eclipsed any sense of pride.

"What's wrong?" Steve asks immediately. "Did something happen? Are you okay?"

Since he doesn't feel like answering the last question, so he ignores it. "Clint sort of asked me what happened yesterday night," he answers, "and when he asked again this morning because last night I told him I'd tell him why I had to take a Purification Potion I sort of lied and said it was because I got into a car accident and the others are going to want to know too because it's not like I hid it all that well and can you just tell them before they ask? Please?"

Surprise is not a good look for Steve. "Why?" he says.

"What?"

"Why?"

Then Tony gets it - give a little, get a little. Admittance for help. After composing himself so he won't rant again, he says, "I just can't, Steve. And tell Clint I'm sorry for lying."

His friend sighs. "Fine," he says. "Want me to tell them to give you about a week?"

"Sure," he says, relieved. This probably counts as the coward's way out, but he doesn't want to see their reactions and there's a reason the Hat decided he was a Ravenclaw and not a Gryffindor when it came down between the two. "I guess we should go."

"Yeah," Steve agrees. "And they're probably all outside the Great Hall like we agreed, so if you don't want to be there, you should probably skirt around them."

"You're right. Thanks. Really."

Saying "thank you" and "sorry" normally isn't his thing (unless he really screws up) but he's pretty sure the moment deserves it. Steve leaves the secret passageway and Tony doubles back, trying to figure out the best way to sneak past or if he should skip out on breakfast all together.

Eventually he decides that skipping it will be the easy way out and waits for half an hour before heading down to History of Magic for nap time. Clint enters a few minutes later, biscuit in one hand and Jane trailing not far after. He takes a seat at the table next to him, and hands him the food. "Figured you might be hungry," he says but doesn't mention anything. "Ready for another year of getting bored to death?"

"Aren't I always," he answers, not looking at the other boy and picking at his breakfast.

And since it's not like Professor Binns pays attention anyway so talking is never punished, Clint says, "We should do something over winter break."

Tony looks over as he finishes his biscuit. "I'm going home for once," he says. "Want to come?"

"Yeah," Clint answers. "It's just, you know, you're a really great friend and everything and it would be fun."

"You've never been to America, right?" he asks, trying to pretend that he doesn't know where this is coming from and Clint shakes his head. "You'll like it. But you'll have to borrow some Muggle clothes. Unless I'm with Steve, I'm not normally in the Wizarding part of the city. Or America in general."

"Isn't New York not far away from Salem?"

"Four hours away. And that's sort of an exception. And they're mostly all witches, since Salem's school is an all girls one."

"Great," Clint says. "I'll owl my mom then."

Tony nods, and the rest of the class time passes in silence.

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I can't really place why, but I got the feeling during the movie that Tony and Steve would be friends with each other.


End file.
